Record Setting Hancock Man Celebrates Cannonball’s 50th Anniversary In Cool Car

Anyone who follows cars has likely heard of the legendary Cannonball Run, an unsanctioned street race that spans just about 2900 miles, from Manhattan, NY to Redondo Beach, California.

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The initial run was made back in 1971, and since then, car enthusiasts have been trying to set and break records, running the same course.

In fact, during the start of the pandemic, one of our very own, a man from Hancock, named Fred Ashmore, broke the Cannonball Run record in a rented Mustang he'd modified himself.

Now, chances are, if you're familiar with the run, there's a good chance you're also familiar with the 1981 The Cannonball Run movie, starring Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, and Farrah Fawcett.

In the movie, Mel Tillis and Terry Bradshaw race against Reynold's character, J.J. McClure in a 1974 Chevy Laguna.

This year is the 50th Anniversary of the initial Cannonball Run.

Of course, Ashmore, being a Cannonball Alumn, and a fan of all things car-related, he wanted to pay homage to the run he'd set a record for in 2020, by crossing the finish line, in a replica car straight out of the movie! He replicated the Laguna!

"I always wanted to do it in a period-correct cannonball movie car."

"I can’t thank enough people that helped make this happen... The first-ever accurate Cannonball Run movie car replica to make it across the USA..."

"The car was built by myself in 30 days to replicate the movie car. It had its original engine and hadn’t been on the road driven in 30 years."

"For the Run we took a camera crew to film and document the experience while shooting footage for an upcoming documentary coming out soon."

"I’m partial to the car being 100% movie accurate, it allowed the footage to be used to simulate shots from the ’70s."

"The cameraman, David James Duke, and my brother [Arthur] accompanied the trip with their desire to make their first attempt at driving a car coast to coast in a cannonball event."

"They both did great with me driving the tougher legs of the run."

"To make this even more accurate, I insisted there were no extra tanks or radar detectors used."

"With 12 stops for fuel in a car that had been off the road for 30 years, we were still able to post a reasonable time taking footage of all the cars."

"The drive was just that..."

We had zero Intention of breaking any records. We simply wanted to do a legitimate vintage run in a legitimate '70s car and make it coast to coast."

"With all the filming and fuel stops, these rookies put a good first-time Effort of 41:14."

It might not be the 25:55 he did before, but my guess is Ashmore might remember more of this trip.